Witold Krzyżanowski
AH ambassador
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2013
- Messages
- 6,038
- Reaction score
- 3,768
- Location
- Trzebiatów - Poland
- Media
- 15
- Member of
- 1977; Polish Hunting Assotiation
- Hunted
- Namibia, Zimbabwe
I agree with Red Leg.
Witold
Witold
I agree with Paul.
Witold
Yes, it's worth the trade off. If having a shotgun is such a big deal, then bring a shotgun along as your 2nd gun. Compromise upon compromise seldom makes for an ideal set-up.Is it worth the trade off in handiness and versatility with the added shotgun barrels?
Yes, I am struggling between the head vs heart to some extent.
If I was to take two rifles, the first is easy, the M98 9.3x62mm for the head and my old classic 1895 .405 WCF for the heart.
On a one gun hunt, I just keep going back to the idea of taking the Beretta 9.3x74R with the shotgun barrels. Again, this is a compromise of head vs heart. My head says utility and because she fits like a part of my body, my heart is seeking a reason to take her.
Dilemmas!
Well sadly as I recently discovered in another thread here in the Republic of South Africa you can't bring either lever action or semi auto rifles so that quickly limits your options to the other two.Hello fellow hunters,
I’m an avid hunter and have taken most of the big stuff on North America, Europe and Australia. My wife has now suggested that it is time to go to Africa in this next year. Though she doesn’t shoot, she loves hunting with me, God bless her.
Being my first hunt in Africa, I plan on taking two rifles. One for close range and the other scoped for longer stuff. Out of my collection, I’ve come up with four that are worthy of taking. They’ve already served me well for a number of years and I shoot them all well. I’m not yet certain where I’ll be hunting or where, which is why I’m open for suggestions from those who have been there and done that. I’ll probably be going after game up to, but probably not including buffalo. That is unless I can get a deal I can’t refuse, in which case I most definitely will go after one.
Below are my options to bring. As I said already, I want to limit it to only two guns. These are what I have and I’m not interested in buying, selling or trading for something else, so please limit your suggesting and choices to what I have listed below. I would say that I’m an advanced reloader, and plan to roll my own. For each I’ve already worked up optimal loads with the latest powders and projectiles, so no quoting 50-100 year old literature on what it good or not. I can tell you that modern triple based high energy powders can make these old girls roar at standard pressures.
Here’s the choice, along with my proven loads. Out of the four, what two would you take?
All are stocked for me and fitted with soft recoil pads, so are naturally good pointing guns that I can shoot well.
- FN Mauser M98, 9.3x62mm, w/ 3-9x variable scope w/illume dot. Two loads; 225 gr. at 2750 fps and 286 gr. at 2450 fps.
- Beretta 689, 9.3x74R, w/ 2-7x scope w/ illume dot. Two loads; 225 gr. at 2700 and 286 gr. at 2350 fps. Also has a set of 20 ga. shotgun barrels fitted to it.
- Winchester 1895, 405 WCF, w/ express sights. Two loads; 300 gr. RN at 2400 and 400 gr. FPGC at 2050 fps.
- Browning 1886 SR Carbine, 45-70 Gov’t (modified for 2.8” OAL), w/ peep sight. Two loads; 405 gr. FP at 2100 fps and 465 gr. FPGC at 1950 fps.
So, which two would you bring and why?
Well said. The first thing I discovered on my trip was that the 6.5-20x50 was way too much scope for about 80% of the shots I had and absolutely the wrong scope to have pretty much everywhere but the Eastern Cape, Karoo, and Kalihari.Hi again fsrmg1,
If you plan to hunt in typical thornbush (80% of Southern Africa's Countries, where hunting is common), your PH will be very likely to strongly suggest you zero your scope to 100 yards/meters and train mightily with same.
Namibia (other than the Caprivi Strip), the Kalahari, South Africa's Eastern Cape / Karoo are noted exceptions.
However as African Safaris usually go, the odds are around 80% that you will be in moderately thick thorn forest and probably at times, in extremely thick riverine forest (bushbuck and nyala to name just two, especially love the thickest foliage they can find).
The majority of your shots are likely to be under 75 yards for all species, and more than one or two will be what seems so close as to feel almost like bayonet distance.
No one will blame you for disregarding some grumpy old man (me) who has only been there a relatively few times but, whatever you do, listen carefully to your PH about these things.
He or she likely grew up in whatever area they became a PH in and, with a rifle in their hands from early childhood.
They know what does and does not work, there where they have hunted all their life.
Cheers,
Velo Dog
I was pretty brokenhearted to tell you the truth. One of my all time favorite rifles is the 1895 in 45/70. About midway through my list on the trip I decided it would have been a great choice in the bush.Thanks for the info Wildrose, I didn't know about the ban on using lever guns in RSA. There are a lot of articles about hunting with them there, but they could be dated and just the same old story recycled.
I was thinking in the lines of a Namibia hunt, as most of my friends go there and could give me pointers and help set me up. The areas they hunt are mixed, you can expect both thick bush and open country. They've all told me the same thing though, as far as scopes go, you really don't need more than a compact 4x. I have a nice little Leopold 2.5-8x firedot I think I'll use.
My friends were also of the opinion to bring and sight in for one load capable of handling all likely situations I might encounter. This is why they recommend the Barnes TSX or like projectile. They reckoned that it performs very well on the longer shots and still offers serious penetration, enough so that I need to really pay attention to what is behind the target.
Looks like I'll be taking one of my 9.3's, just which one now. I'll probably make that final decision once I book, then I'll have an idea as to the hunting conditions. Until then, I can still fine tune my equipment and work up some loads.
What is more fun? The hunt or getting ready for it?![]()
It's not that they are "banned" but according to Flatwater Bill who posted this in another thread, they are not legal for us to bring under the restrictions applied to the temporary import permits that allow us to bring our firearms with us.I'm not so sure lever guns are 'banned' here. Certainly you can buy them locally and use them for hunting as far as I know. So I do not see why you couldn't bring one in on a temporary import (i.e. the same as bringing in a bolt gun) and use it for hunting. I do not believe that lever guns are classed in the same category as semi autos.
But I stand to be corrected!
For sure Ruger No.1's and all falling-block actions are 100% ok to import and hunt with!